Identifying and dating a classic Ford: plates, chassis numbers and life after ETIS

Establishing exactly what an old Ford is has become harder than it was five years ago, and the reason is not the cars. It is that the two routes most owners relied on have either closed or never existed.

This is a practical problem, because Ford built the most numerous British classics there are, in more variants, trim levels and specifications than almost anybody else, and the difference between a genuine RS and a well-dressed base model is measured in tens of thousands of pounds.

The two things that are gone

ETIS has closed. Ford’s technical information portal was, for years, the standard way an owner turned a VIN into build information. Its free public build-data function was withdrawn progressively, and the site itself has now gone: as at August 2026, the address does not resolve at all. Ford has published no announcement with a date attached, which is why so much advice still points at it. If a guide tells you to look your Cortina up on ETIS, that guide is stale.

There is no Ford heritage certificate. This one surprises people who have owned other British classics. The British Motor Museum issues certified copies of original factory ledger entries for Austin, Morris, MG, Riley, Rover, Standard, Triumph, Wolseley and related marques, and it is a genuinely wonderful resource. Ford is not in that archive.

So a Morris Minor owner can buy a document showing the car’s original colour, build date and factory-fitted equipment, and a Cortina owner cannot. That is not a gap you can close by looking harder. It is simply the position, and knowing it saves a lot of searching.

What the car itself carries

With no central archive, the vehicle becomes the primary source.

The identification plate. Classic Fords carry a riveted plate in the engine bay. Its position varies by model and year: different cars have it on the inner wing or the fender apron, on either side, and some are oriented to be read from outside the engine bay rather than from above it. Between them the plate’s fields typically cover the vehicle serial number, body type, a year and month build code, drive side, engine, transmission, rear axle, trim and paint.

One honest caveat about decoding those codes. Ford does not publish the tables, and there is no official decoder to check them against. The enthusiast decoders that exist are maintained by owners and clubs, and while several are long-established and carefully researched, they do not carry manufacturer authority. Treat a decoded plate as strong evidence rather than proof, and prefer a model-specific club’s interpretation over a generic one.

The stamped number. The chassis or serial number is also stamped into the structure. Its agreement with the plate is one of the first things worth checking on any car whose identity matters, and disagreement is worth understanding before money changes hands.

Where the 17-character VIN starts

There is a real dividing line in the middle of the classic Ford era, and it is useful for dating a car at a glance.

The 17-character VIN was mandated across Europe from 1 October 1981, structured in three sections: a three-character manufacturer identifier, a six-character descriptor section, and an eight-character indicator section. Separately, British construction and use regulations require a manufacturer’s plate carrying the VIN on vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1980, fixed where it is not normally replaced.

Before that, Fords carried a shorter alphanumeric serial number which encoded things like the source company, assembly plant, body type and a year and month code. The detail of those older schemes is documented by clubs rather than by Ford, so the same caution applies.

Practically: a Mk5 Cortina or an early Sierra should have a 17-character VIN. A Mk2 Cortina, an Anglia, a Mk1 Escort or an early Capri will not, and expecting one is a common source of confusion when filling in forms designed for modern cars.

What DVLA already holds

Before paying anybody, use the free government record, which is more useful than most owners realise.

DVLA’s vehicle enquiry service returns, from the registration number alone: the date of first registration, the year of manufacture, engine size, fuel type, type approval category, tax and SORN status, MOT expiry and an export marker. For dating a car, the year of manufacture DVLA holds is the figure that the rest of the system already runs on, including the tax and MOT exemption rules.

What DVLA does not hold is the factory specification. It knows what the car was registered as, not what colour it left Dagenham in or which axle ratio it was built with.

Getting an age-related mark, or the original number back

For an imported or re-registered car, DVLA requires proof of the year of manufacture, and states that the chassis or frame number can often be used to establish it. Where a manufacturer no longer exists, DVLA directs applicants to the relevant owners’ club for a dating certificate.

Ford’s continued existence makes that route less clear-cut than it is for a defunct marque, which is a good reason to talk to a club before assuming either way.

For a surviving car that lost its original registration, the V765 scheme is the route to reclaim it, and it requires endorsement by a vehicle owners’ club from DVLA’s approved list. Ford is reasonably well represented on that list, with recognised clubs covering the Anglia 105E, the Cortina Mk2, the Classic and Capri, the Corsair, the Zephyr and Zodiac ranges and the RS models, among others. Coverage is not complete, and the list is revised through the year, so work from the current version rather than a remembered one. The broader tracing and V765 process is covered in how to find your old car.

What is still worth having

The picture is not all negative, and two Ford resources are genuinely good as long as you know what they are.

The Ford Heritage Vault is a free public archive of more than twenty thousand brochures and photographs, browsable by year and model. For establishing what a specification looked like, what colours and trims were offered, and what the original marketing claimed, it is excellent. It holds no individual build records and offers no VIN lookup.

Ford of Britain’s Heritage and Innovation Centre houses the company’s UK heritage vehicle collection along with a physical library of brochures, manuals and advertising. Access is by arrangement rather than casual visit.

Beyond that, the practical answer for most owners is the marque club. Model registrars hold the accumulated knowledge that would otherwise sit in a factory archive, including which numbers fall in which build ranges and what a genuine example should carry. For a car where authenticity carries real money, that is the opinion worth having, and it is the same verification a buyer should want before paying a premium for a rare variant.

Why this matters more for Fords than for most

Ford’s British range was built in enormous numbers across many trim levels, and the performance versions were mechanically close enough to the ordinary ones that convincing replicas are easy to build and have been built for decades.

That is not a reason for suspicion of every car, and plenty of tribute cars are honestly described and enjoyed as such. It is a reason to establish what a specific car actually is before paying the difference, using the plate, the stamped number, the club’s knowledge and whatever history the car carries with it.

The absence of a factory certificate makes that documentation more valuable rather than less. On a Ford, the history file is the heritage certificate, and a car that has kept one is worth looking after.